


Breathe, Mia

by Hush_the_misery



Category: Chris Evans - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 15:26:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14772245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hush_the_misery/pseuds/Hush_the_misery
Summary: Chris helps his girlfriend when she wakes up in the midst of a bad panic attack





	Breathe, Mia

**Author's Note:**

> Well...my mind did a thing and this is the result. I have panic attacks myself but have never tried to write out how someone else might handle it because I usually have to deal with them alone. Feedback is always appreciated.

Anxiety. Something everyone deals with at some point. Chris was familiar with it, more so than he was willing to admit some days. He knows the crippling panic that sneaks up on you out of nowhere, the feeling that everything is spinning out of control and there is nothing you can do to stop it. He knows that having someone talk you down can be helpful; knows how much it hurts to not be able to help someone you care about when that feeling of not being able to breath begins to pummel them. He hates it all.  
*****  
“Babe?” Chris mumbles, half asleep as he feels her scramble to get out of bed; tripping over her own feet and falling to the floor before stumbling away from the bed   
“Mia? Baby what’s wrong?” he asks as he flips the bedside lamp on and sits up  
He sees her scramble out of the room and hears her stumble a bit in the hallway  
“Mia?” he says her name again as he follows her out of the room, finding her on the floor in the living room with her back against the wall. He takes a few steps toward her before kneeling on the carpet, saying her name again  
“Mia, baby look at me.”  
Her eyes are darting around the room and she’s wheezing; his own chest hurts watching her body shake as she tries to breathe around the fear that’s gripping her mind. Chris wonders if she’s even all the way awake for a moment before he crouches in front of her  
“Amelia, breathe...come on, Mia…breathe.” he keeps his voice soft, not willing to scare her even more by raising his volume  
He reaches out and touches her hand, sliding his fingers to the inside of her wrist, inching a little closer as he feels how fast her heart is racing; he begins to worry that she’ll pass out with how shallow her breathing is. She hasn’t flinched away from him yet, so he thinks she might be somewhat lucid despite what’s going on  
“Mia, come on baby; slow down your breathing for me.”  
Her eyes are glassy when they start fluttering; he knows she’s going to pass out if he can’t get her to calm down and that’s not something he cares to have happen, so he moves closer to her again and in a swift but careful movement he pulls her away from the wall and into his lap. He’s shocked when she fights back; although in the state she’s in its pointless, he’s so much larger than her that he could easily restrain her if he needed to  
“Mia, stop…baby stop, hush its just me, its Chris. Shhhh, babe its okay, you’re safe. Just breathe okay, breathe.”   
Her fighting doesn’t last long, the rumble of his voice and the feel of his hands on her arms finally starts to break through. He looks into her eyes as they clear a little, no longer flicking from one spot to another but slightly staring off into nothing. He hears her breath hitch and rests his hand lightly on the side of her neck to try and get her to look at him  
“Mia…Mia, look at me.” he coaxes, feeling the tightness in his chest letting up when she looks at him  
“Chris?” she rasps out around her still too fast breathing, confusion clear in her tone  
“Yeah.” He smiles a little, though he’s still concerned. He can feel her pulse under his palm and its too fast still, though not quite as fast as before.  
He watches for a minute, sees as she begins to process what happened and the realization that they are both on the floor of his living room in the middle of the night; watches as her eyes widen and fill with tears.  
“I’m sorry…” she chokes as her body and mind continue to fight with each other, now adding guilt at waking him up to the mix and he wants to stop everything she’s feeling; but he knows that isn’t how this works  
“Hey, none of that. Its okay, babe, believe me its okay.”  
He hates that her mind is doing this to her, that he can’t just kiss away the feelings that are tearing her apart right now. He feels her take in a shuddering breath, neither of them realizing that she was almost breathing normally again until then; notices the way she starts to lean toward him, sagging in exhaustion. It may have only been 10 minutes since she nearly threw herself out of bed but as the adrenaline wears off and her guilt takes over she begins to shake a little. She’s trying so hard to take deep breaths, to not break down and cry because she knows he hates it when she cries. She bites her lip to fight back against the tears burning her eyes  
“Don’t do that, you’re gonna hurt yourself.” Chris says, using his thumb to gently pull her lip from between her teeth. She whimpers in her effort to fight the urge to start sobbing, tries to pull away from him and go hide away in the bathroom to let her tears escape but he won’t let her   
“No, Mia, don’t hide from me; let it out baby.”   
She clamps her mouth shut, he can see the muscle in her jaw twitch and cups her face in his palms; gently pressing his fingers into the skin to hold her steady and not let her look away from him   
“How many times have you done this for me? How many times have I come stumbling up to you, barely holding on and you just let me curl around you and cry? You don’t have to hide from me baby.” He knows she hates crying, hates even more when someone sees her cry. He hates when she cries but right now she’s overwhelmed and exhausted and probably needs to just cry until she falls asleep; so as much as he hates it and as much as it tears him apart he wants her to let it all out.  
He can see the way she is fighting it still, and despite her efforts a tear slips down her cheek and her breath hitches again. He knows she’s trying not to work herself up into a panic again, but he can also see the way her body is so tense that she is nearly shaking  
“Tell me what happened?” he quietly asks, shifting them both so that she is curled against him; she lets him pull her so she’s sideways on his lap and her head rests against his collar bone. He hopes this will either put her to sleep or get her to let all that negative bullshit out; either one would be fine with him  
“Nightmare.” Is all she says as he begins drawing random patterns on the skin of her arm.  
“About what?”  
“Don’t remember.” He hears her hiccup as he feels a few tears on the bare skin of his chest but doesn’t say anything, opting to bring his hand up and cradles the side of her head  
“M’sorry I woke you up.” She mumbles, sniffling a little as she tries to hide the fact that she is indeed crying quietly now.   
“It’s okay baby girl, rather have you wake me up falling out of bed then wake up in the morning and find you passed out in the living room because you had a panic attack.”   
He feels her shaking a little as she quietly cries, feels the warm tears drip from her face onto his skin and tightens his hold on her a little; resting his chin lightly on the top of her head.  
Minutes tick by and he feels her start to go limp, the hiccupping breaths that came with her crying have passed and he can almost feel her exhaustion catching up with her  
“You wanna go back to bed?” he asks quietly  
She makes a noise that sounds vaguely like yes and he stops her when she tries to slide out of his lap  
“What…”  
He doesn’t answer, instead sliding his arms under her and lifting her as he stands, chuckling as she yelps in shock  
“I won’t drop you, relax.” He says as he moves back down the hall with her held bridal style in his arms  
He nudges the door all the way open and sets her on the bed and then moves to get a warm rag to wipe the dried tears from her face, and as an after thought he runs it over his chest. She almost looks like a little kid as she pulls at her pajama top, mumbling something he can’t quite make out as she yanks it over her head.   
When he lays beside her and tries to give her a little space she whines, a noise he always finds adorable coming from her, and he shuffles so that one arm is under her pillow and the other is wrapped firmly around her; the skin of her back pressed to his chest. She sighs in contentment, her body twitching a few seconds later as her muscles relax. He waits until she is all the way asleep before pressing a kiss to her shoulder and letting himself drift back to sleep  
Chris hates anxiety and panic attacks, but as he falls back to sleep all he can think is that he’s thankful he has Mia and she has him because they suck just a little less when you don’t have to deal with them alone.


End file.
